Copykat's Olive Garden Chicken Gnocchi Soup

I love the Copykat site ran by Stephanie Manley and this was a new recipe from there for the Blackburn family. Although, this isn't my favorite Olive Garden soup, I sure do enjoy it. I also loved how easy it was to make!

Now, although I did make a couple of changes, the recipe is the same. First change I made was instead of finely chopping veggies, I kept them chunky. I love the taste of veggies in my soup and I didn't want to lose that with finely shredding them. Being a spinach lover,  I added a full bag of baby spinach and I loved it. I was a bit nervous that it would be overloaded with spinach...it wasn't. I am really happy I made that change. I also omitted the nutmeg that even Stephanie calls optional. I did include it in the ingredient list so feel free to add it if you would like.

A note on Gnocchi. Stephanie calls for regular sized gnocchi or the little baby ones. I used the mini ones and am thrilled that I did! Make it a point to find the mini ones. I will no longer use any other!

So, here we go!:

Ingredients:

1T. olive oil
4 T. Butter
4 T. Flour
1 Qt Half and Half
1/2 cup celery, diced
1 cup onion, diced
1 cup carrots, diced
1 t. jarred minced garlic
2 cans (14 oz) chicken broth
1 cup cook and diced chicken breasts
1 package of baby spinach
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. thyme
1/2 t. parsley
1/4 t. nutmeg (optional)
1 package mini gnocchi cooked according to package directions

Directions:

1) Saute the onion, celery and garlic in the butter/olive oil over medium heat until onion is translucent. Add flour to make a roux. Let cook for 1 minute and add half and half.

2) Add the carrots and chicken.

3) Once it thickens, add the chicken broth. When it thickens again, add the remaining ingredients. Allow the soup to simmer until the carrots are soft.